Hogan Denies Conflict from Representing Competitors

A few weeks ago, Prestige Brands filed a malpractice suit against Hogan & Hartson. Prestige “markets well-recognized, branded consumer products in over-the-counter healthcare, household cleaning and personal care categories.” (Think abandoned staples of the medicine closet and under the kitchen sink: Spic and Span, Comet, Chloraspetic, Prell, and so on. The company buys and reinvigorates neglected brands.)

The company claims Hogan partner Howard Holstein (URI BS ‘68, Georgetown JD ‘72) represented a company Prestige acquired through the FDA approval process for a mouthguard, then took a competitor’s product through the same process.

Prestige, in its complaint, says the firm concealed the conflict and used confidential information from its representation of Prestige, such as testing methods, specifications and manufacturing details, to help DenTek get its mouthguard onto store shelves “substantially earlier than what could otherwise be accomplished.”

This is actually the second go-round in the dispute (not counting numerous unrelated suits Prestige is bringing against competitors and former employees for using trade secrets). Defendant DenTek has already had one suit dismissed in January from New York Supreme Court for lack of jurisdiction. In the present action, in D.C. Superior Court, Hogan & Hartson is fighting back.

The firm, through its counsel Zuckerman Spaeder, is again seeking dismissal – This time for failure to state a claim.  Apparently, Holstein didn’t actually learn anything from doing the exact same work for Prestige.  Instead, the defense strategy looks to be blaming the former client’s financial losses on its own poor judgment.  Hogan’s filing says that:

“Prestige has filed a baseless suit against its former lawyers to compensate for Prestige’s own erroneous predictions regarding the state of the mouth guard market”

Classy.

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